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Growing Push in Newark to Retake School Reins

NEWARK — For a generation of Newark students, every education decision, including choices on curriculum, spending and superintendent, has been made by state officials in Trenton.

That level of state involvement has made the 39,000-student district an attractive laboratory for Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican seen as a national leader on education reform, and for prominent donors, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who have pledged $148 million to remake this city’s failing schools.

But the influx of money, and the attendant national spotlight, has galvanized a growing movement of parents, educators and elected officials who want the schools returned to local control 16 years after they were taken over amid low test scores, crumbling buildings and charges of mismanagement.

These critics say that the state has unilaterally imposed a controversial agenda — replacing principals, opening new schools, placing charter schools inside district buildings — dreamed up by outsiders and consultants who do not understand the needs of their children, and that there is not enough opportunity for input by parents and community-based advocates.

“It just seems like a hostile takeover because our voices are not being heard,” said Leah Owens, 29, the founder of Teachers as Leaders in Newark, which has helped collect hundreds of signatures in support of local control. “There are so many new things happening, it’s like the idea is just throw it all against a wall and see what sticks.”

Newark’s school board, which is elected but serves an advisory role, petitioned a state appellate court in August to give it the reins of most day-to-day operations, and a coalition of community organizations and residents represented by the Education Law Center, an advocacy group, followed with a similar lawsuit. This fall, the coalition has lobbied for local control at community meetings, started petition drives at schools, unleashed e-mail campaigns on state officials, and staged a rally that united even political adversaries.

“What we have in Newark is taxation without representation,” said State Senator Ronald L. Rice, one of nearly 300 people who attended the rally last month.

But Mr. Christie has ruled out a return to local control anytime soon, and his acting education commissioner, Christopher D. Cerf, said in an interview that the district had not yet shown the sustained progress required to end Trenton’s involvement.

Legislation passed in 2005 and 2007 created a process for the state to withdraw from Newark and two other districts, Jersey City and Paterson, once they met benchmarks in five areas: instruction and program, fiscal management, operations, personnel and governance.

By June, Newark had done so in all but instruction, building upon a 2007 review that allowed the district to regain control over building maintenance and safety issues. Jersey City has had approval over finances and governance since 2007, while Paterson remains fully under state control, though it passed benchmarks last year for governance, operations and personnel.

Regarding Newark, Mr. Cerf wrote to the new superintendent in July that “much work remains,” with graduation rates and test scores low, and with personnel procedures and operations that “continue to inhibit student learning and effective management of the district.”

“I thought we needed to take a deep breath and let the new superintendent get established,” Mr. Cerf added in an interview. “And let some of these new reforms begin to take root before we have this conversation.”

At least 20 states have taken control of local school districts over the last two decades, with mixed results in addressing fiscal crises, mismanagement and poor academic performance. Newark’s takeover, dating to 1995, is one of the longest-lasting; others typically range from one to 10 years.

The federal No Child Left Behind law, effective since 2002, specifically identified state takeovers of failing districts or schools as an option. More recently, Louisiana and Tennessee have created special state-controlled districts to oversee failing schools, rather than taking over an entire district.

Photo

Parents of children in Newark schools sign a petition to wrest control from the state and give the school board a more active role.Credit
Aaron Houston for The New York Times

In New Jersey, Mr. Christie in May chose the new Newark superintendent, Cami Anderson, who reports to Mr. Cerf; the state’s Education Department approves the district’s nearly $1 billion budget.

If the appellate court rules in favor of Newark’s school board, the state would continue to oversee instruction, but the nine board members could start to regain budgetary and policy-making powers, including the hiring — and firing — of superintendents. Under state law, if the district gets control over governance, residents would vote within a year on whether to keep an elected school board or change to a mayor-appointed board.

Many parents supporting the drive for local control complained that the state had pushed a culture of test-taking, leaving little room for electives like art, music, auto shop and cooking.

“You can’t grade everything on test scores,” said Daphne Frazier, 46, whose two youngest sons are in special-education classes. “A lot of kids are really not good at taking tests. It messes with their self-esteem if they see their scores.”

Others questioned the focus on creating new schools, including charters, at the expense of struggling neighborhood schools, which serve most students. At George Washington Carver Elementary School, parents and teachers complained this year after a charter school moved in on the third floor with new air-conditioners and furnishings.

“You could see the new furniture coming in,” said Shellian Peters, 38, a mother of three. “Whereas on the district side, it was the same as when the school was built. That’s how blatantly obvious it was.”

Ms. Anderson, the superintendent, denied that charters had gotten extra attention, noting that she had visited all 75 district schools. She said her administration had worked broadly to develop stronger principals and teachers in all the schools, redesigned report cards to better communicate progress to parents, and provided flexibility to schools to address individual student needs. And while the district, like much of the nation, relies on standardized tests to measure student progress, Ms. Anderson said that she had also put resources into enrichment activities like arts programs and debate clubs.

Such efforts have won praise from Derrell Bradford, executive director of Better Education for Kids, an advocacy group, who said he favored state control because Trenton has better access to resources and personnel. Clement Price, a prominent Newark historian, concurred that state control should not end without a serious public debate over the kind of school board that would replace it.

Newark’s mayor, Cory A. Booker, a Democrat, said that while he had long called for local control of the schools, he had also partnered with the state on reforms that he said were making a difference.

“The politics and the policies of tomorrow, no matter how important, are not going to serve our kids today,” he said.

But Junius Williams, 67, a lawyer, said the initial excitement over the Zuckerberg gift had turned to disappointment because “the so-called reform plan has not addressed the basic needs of all the children.”

Shavar Jeffries, a school board member, said that he supported the recent initiatives but that state control inevitably undermined parental involvement.

“The path to lasting reform runs through parents, not around them,” he said. “A takeover mind-set will ultimately doom the prospects for reform.”

Deniqua Matias, who collected petition signatures for local control recently at George Washington Carver Elementary, said she was insulted that the Zuckerberg gift was announced on Oprah Winfrey’s show in Chicago.

“It should have been done in Newark, but that is the trend here,” said Ms. Matias, 29, an assistant preschool director. “It’s like the state is saying: ‘We don’t have to have a relationship with you; we’ll just tell you what to do. Here’s your spoonful of oatmeal; take it, and like it.’ ”

A version of this article appears in print on December 12, 2011, on Page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: Growing Push In Newark To Retake School Reins. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe